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 What was it that Luciano Pavarotti and Mistislav Rostoprovich had in common? What is the special quality that helps Christian Lindberg and Øystein Baadsvik be world-class soloists and has helped Benjamin Pierce to become an amazing frequent winner of competitions? Of course, the primary common denominator is that all these players are superb musicians and artists. But further, they all possess the ability to produce a resonant, vibrant, high energy, warm and clear pianissimo. They are able to perform with drama and intensity at a musical whisper.
Ironically, developing and maintaining a beautiful and functional pianissimo is not so different from fortissimo. Quite simply, the development of a fine pianissimo takes practice in the same way as does fortissimo and quite frankly, many developing players are far more attracted to working almost exclusively on the fortissimo end of the dynamic spectrum. Personally, I remember very well that seductive attraction of playing loud; putting a bottom on a symphony orchestra through the coda of a Mahler or Bruckner symphony. It’s really fun, sometimes it’s even a blast--BUT, it is not the main aspect of playing and it can cause our pianissimo to suffer when we build our playing only around those heroic moments.
When the embouchure is trained mainly for those Helden-moments of loud playing, it becomes very difficult to focus in pianissimo and it becomes equally difficult to clearly articulate; piano response suffers, resonance disappears and, consequently, intonation becomes an audible problem. In other words, when we lose control of our pianissimo it sounds bad, just as it does in fortissimo when we lose control.
At the point where the air meets the lips and causes the vibration, the aperture is smaller in pp than it is in louder dynamics. If the aperture is too large in piano, resonance is lost. If it’s too small it becomes rigid and may not vibrate at all. The secret is finding ones individual resonance balance between aperture and air pressure where the soft dynamic will respond with the desired resonance. Finding that resonance balance is not difficult.
1. Choose a middle register note, middle C for example; play it on the piano. Hold the key down and listen to the diminuendo the piano makes, then try and play the same note with the same diminuendo. Adjust the air pressure and the aperture size until you can play the same diminuendo as the piano with a resonant sound.
2. Do the same exercise with other notes. Listen and adjust the air pressure and aperture ratio as before. Your ears will guide you in the right direction. 3. Do the same exercise with several very small diminuendos and crescendos through the larger diminuendo; this will fine-tune your resonance balance. 4. Play music you like with active dynamics between p and ppp.
Frequently, a beautiful, resonant and functional pianissimo can delineate the difference between a good player and a great player and it will make playing at all dynamics sound more beautiful; it’s well worth working for.
Tokyo
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In fact, I'm reminded of the Western International Band Clinic in Seattle, WA. We were playing a piece where the emphasis was on musicality as opposed to technicality. At the end of the lead trumpet's solo, he diminuendo'd his last note into nothing, which prompted our director to stop the band, and practicly yell "THAT is the sign of a true musician! Someone who cares about the END of the note as well as the beginning."
Now to apply the expressive PP to my playing.
-Chris